ROCCO'S SEPTEMBER REVIEW ROUNDUP!

ROCCO’S COZY MYSTERY REVIEW ROUNDUP – SEPTEMBER

Meow! It's time for my cozy mystery review roundup for September. Check out these titles from Berkeley:

ROCCO's TOP PICK!

A TALE OF TWO KITTIES – SOFIE KELLY

With a well-placed paw on a keyboard or a pointed stare, Kathleen’s two cats, Hercules and Owen, have helped her to solve cases in the past—so she has learned to trust their instincts. But she will need to rely on them more than ever when a twenty-year-old scandal leads to murder…
 
The arrival of the Janes brothers has the little town of Mayville Heights buzzing. Everyone of a certain age remembers when Victor had an affair with Leo’s wife, who then died in a car accident.
 
Now it seems the brothers are trying to reconcile, until Kathleen finds Leo dead. The police set their sights on Leo’s son and Kathleen’s good friend Simon, who doesn’t have much of an alibi. To prove her friend innocent, Kathleen will have to dig deep into the town's history—and into her sardine cracker supply, because Owen and Hercules don't work for free...

ROCCO sez:  Everyone’s favorite librarian, Kathleen Paulson is back with her ‘magical cats’ Owen and Hercules!  This series has been a favorite of mine from the first, and I was especially pleased to see that it’s now in hardcover!  Owen and Hercules, as per usual, steal the show!  This is one series that we just can’t get enough of. More!  More! More!  Five Paws!!!!!!

MURDER SHE WROTE – HOOK LINE AND MURDER.

Jessica enters a fly fishing competition at a nearby lake. Joining her is the sheriff’s wife, Maureen Metzger, who surprises Jess with her enthusiasm for the sport. Their guide, however, is a surprise to both.…

Brian Kinney is an ex-con. Jailed as an accomplice to Darryl Jepson, a convicted killer, Brian was later exonerated, but not before spending seven years behind bars. He seems like a decent enough fellow. Just a man trying to rebuild his life as a family man and fishing guide.

Yet when Jepson breaks out of prison vowing revenge, and the lawyer for both men is found murdered, Cabot Cove becomes the focus of the nation as local, state, and federal authorities descend on Jessica’s home town. And to add to the tension, Maureen has gone missing. Is she lost or is she a hostage? Jess soon finds herself caught in a net full of lies, deceit and ulterior motives. In order to save her friend, she’ll need to find some answers by hook or by crook.…

Sez ROCCO:  Murder She Wrote has always been a favorite in our household, both the books and the television series.  The tradition continues with the latest volume. It never ceases to amaze me how Jessica Fletcher can take the most insignificant thing and transform it into a major clue.  As usual, she’s got the solution to the murder well in hand, but not before a series of terrifying events.  I particularly love the way they weave minor characters we’ve never seen from the old series into the books, case in point, the sheriff’s wife in this one, Maureen Metzger.  Keep ‘em coming!  Four and a half paws!!!!!

PUDDING UP WITH MURDER – JULIA BUCKLEY

Spring is right around the corner, and with the warmer temperatures come plenty of food requests from Lilah Drake's covered-dish clients. Lilah pulls out all the stops with a sweet new casserole for the birthday party of Marcus Cantwell, a wealthy curmudgeon who has some angry ex-wives and more than a few enemies.
 
When he's found facedown in Lilah's casserole, it's anyone's guess as to who might have wanted the old man dead. A possible new heir to Marcus’s fortune adds some unexpected spice to the investigation, but Lilah fears that the old adage is true, and "the proof is in the pudding." 

Sez ROCCO:  Lilah is a charming heroine and the Undercover Dish Mysteries don’t disappoint.  A good solid mystery with the quirky characters that one comes to expect of a cozy series.  We hope Lilah will be serving up mysteries as her  main course for many more adventures to come! Four Paws! 

WINTER'S CHILD - MARGARET COEL



Margaret Coel’s New York Times bestselling series concludes as Arapaho attorney Vicky Holden and Father John O’Malley discover that a centuries-old mystery is tied to a modern-day crime on the Wind River Reservation…

In the midst of a blizzard, Myra and Eldon Little Shield found an abandoned baby on their doorstep and brought her inside. Five years later, no one has come back to claim the little girl now known as Mary Anne Little Shield. But now that she’s old enough to start school, her foster parents fear social services will take her—a white child—away from them.

Determined to adopt Mary Anne, the Little Shields hire lawyer Clint Hopkins, who wants Vicky as cocounsel on the case. But before their plans can take shape, a black truck deliberately runs Hopkins down in the street.

Enlisting Father John to help investigate who would kill to stop the child’s adoption, Vicky unravels a connection between the five-year-old girl and a missing alcoholic Arapaho wanted for robbery—only to uncover one of the darkest secrets in Wind River’s history…


ROCCO sez:  Another fine entry in the Wind River mysteries. If you haven't picked up any, you should!  Four paws!!!!

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Contest ends midnight, September 7.  US entries only, please.